Would you buy an e-book with DRM?

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

I would be happy to borrow DRM protected books for a good price.

Maybe subconsciously that's how I think of ebooks. As a temporary loan arrangement.

I am paying to read it not own it. Sort of like an entrance fee to a museum. I pay to look at the objects and appreciate them but not to own (or even touch) any of them.

[Zorz]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I voted yes although I dont own a device. My usual MO is to throw the book away after reading. I've never read a book twice. Recently, I realized the library exists and started utilizing it to save money. Although, anticipated library budget cuts may affect me and have started researching suitable ereaders.

That seems really silly. Why not donate the book to a library or local thrift store?

or even better why buy it in the first place, just rent it.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I guess it doesnt bother me. So many things I do or places I go have security features that intrude on our lives. My local library has security monitors that buzz when you pass through. BJ's has an employee that goes through your packages to make sure you purchased everything in your cart. I have to prove I'm a US citizen every time I renew my driver's license. Security cameras everywhere. All these situations assume we're thieves so I dont see the difference with DRM ebooks. I know what my options are when I buy an e-reader. I know too my options when I buy an ebook.

Denying myself now the pleasure of reading my favorite authors is not worth the nonexistent gain if/when ebooks become DRM-free. I read books once and throw away.

This sums up my feelings pretty well, with the exception of the fact that I'm a re-reader. I only have 1 reader & any future reader I get I will make sure it is compatible to what I have now.

I suspect that a lot of you wouldn't have any problems if you didn't feel compelled to buy every incompatible reader put out.

I learned my lesson of incompatibility with the VHS vs BETA VCR debacle, I refuse to get caught a 2nd time.

I waited until a multiformat DVD player was put on the market before I got one. If I was interested in HD players I would have waited until BR came out on top.

I chose the Sony because if gives me all the flexibility that I want as far as how many formats it reads, & I have more selection of stores that I can purchase from. And most importantly, I can backup my books on my pc, my external hard drive & a SD card.

I'm not about to let DRM stop me from reading the books that I want to read, I will just find a store that will sell it in the formats that my reader accepts at a price that I'm willing to pay.

[DJHARKAVY]

Originally Posted by afa

So, you can only read ebooks a certain number of times or for a limited time? Wow, this just gets dumber and dumber. I have several books that I've read multiple times. Man, this DRM business is worse than I ever thought. I better teach myself how to strip it, pronto.

Well, the library uses a system that will cause the book to be unreadable after a set amount of time (when the book is returned) but most books are not limited by reads or time.

However, if you change machines, and the new format can't be read, or if the new format cannot be authorized, you are stuck...

I have a few mobipocket books from fictionwise. My computer has a new Mobipocket code, and I can't re-download them (geographic restrictions, for some reason) so I am stuck without those books.

[leebase]

I buy books I want to read without regard to DRM. If I can remove the drm, great. I'm embarrassed to say that I remain confused and mostly unsuccessful despite being an IT guy.

Still, I'm not much for rereading. I wouldn't WANT to lose access to a book I bought, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I've lost or brown away most every dead tree book I've ever bought anyway.

I love the way Baen does business....but it's the content of th books that's far more important. I'm not going to buy a book just because it's drm free and I won't refuse to buy a book I want to read due to drm.

Lee

[Guns4Hire]

I don't buy anything with DRM no matter what the media.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Guns4Hire

I don't buy anything with DRM no matter what the media.

So you've never bought a DVD or Bluray?

[BenLee]

seems like the majority here would still buy DRMed ebooks.

maybe a good compromise is if they offered DRM books significantly cheaper. It makes more sense because you don't really 100% "own" the book.

[timezone]

Originally Posted by BenLee

seems like the majority here would still buy DRMed ebooks.

maybe a good compromise is if they offered DRM books significantly cheaper. It makes more sense because you don't really 100% "own" the book.

While in spirit that is true. We are going down a dangerous road if we accept the concept of only borrowing and never owning. We own these books. We have the right to fair use and that should be defended. The issue lies in the fact that companies do not owe us the ability to have fair use. That is the issue.

More and more we are turning our world into a virtual world. Do we want all virtual items to be considered loans. I don't think we really want that to happen.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by BenLee

seems like the majority here would still buy DRMed ebooks.

My reading of the figures is that the majority would still buy DRMed ebooks if we can remove the DRM.

It would make more sense to me for the publishers to accept this and stop using DRM, especially as there are several publishers who don't use DRM and are thriving.

Regards, Alex

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

My reading of the figures is that the majority would still buy DRMed ebooks if we can remove the DRM.

It would make more sense to me for the publishers to accept this and stop using DRM, especially as there are several publishers who don't use DRM and are thriving.

What's surprising is that many publishers are saying that they've looked at the example of the music publishers, and are striving to avoid their mistakes.

And yet they seem to have missed the main lesson from the music publisher's experience: If you make it hard to find and buy and use your product, people will avoid it.

While if you make it easy to find and buy and use your product, people will buy it rather than have the hassle of searching for an illegally distributed version.

Adding DRM to ebooks makes them more expensive to produce (the Adobe per-copy charge) and harder to use.

The per-copy charge alone for the Adobe DRM should be enough for publishers to realise that DRM is hurting them, not helping them.

[Victoria]

I buy drm'd books regularly. I accept that there needs to be some kind of protection against piracy. I wish there were a way to lend an ebook to my sisters or a good friend, as I do with paper books - say to 4 people. However, that's not an option yet. Since libraries can do it now, I think this will happen with time.

Though I'm fine with drm, I'm really annoyed about not being able to read my Sony ebooks on my iPad. I accept drm to protect authors, but I don't accept being locked into a particular device. That is why I am now buying from amazon and kobo instead of Sony. I did buy more than $400 from Sony before I had other devices and understood they were captive on my sony 505. I do reread books and I want to have the option to switch devices as tech moves ahead - so I only buy books from vendors who build that flexibility in right from the start.

It seems to me that there are 2 philosophies - vendors who want to sell books, and their readers are secondary, and companies that want to sell hardware, and they keep you captive by not allowing the books on other devices. I'm sticking with vendors who want to sell books.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Victoria

I buy drm'd books regularly. I accept that there needs to be some kind of protection against piracy. I wish there were a way to lend an ebook to my sisters or a good friend, as I do with paper books - say to 4 people. However, that's not an option yet. Since libraries can do it now, I think this will happen with time.

Though I'm fine with drm, I'm really annoyed about not being able to read my Sony ebooks on my iPad. I accept drm to protect authors, but I don't accept being locked into a particular device. That is why I am now buying from amazon and kobo instead of Sony. I did buy more than $400 from Sony before I had other devices and understood they were captive on my sony 505. I do reread books and I want to have the option to switch devices as tech moves ahead - so I only buy books from vendors who build that flexibility in right from the start.

It seems to me that there are 2 philosophies - vendors who want to sell books, and their readers are secondary, and companies that want to sell hardware, and they keep you captive by not allowing the books on other devices. I'm sticking with vendors who want to sell books.

You are mistaken. The books your bought from Sony, originally in Sony's LRX format, can now be downloaded in ePub format from Sony for no extra charge. Adobe's ePub format is probably the most widely usable DRM format.

The only devices that use a different DRM system are Amazon's Kindle (hardware and software) (Kindle/Mobipocket format and DRM) and Apple's iPad (iBooks software) (ePub and Apple's FairPlay DRM).

The only way to have books that can be read (if necessary converted) on any current and future ebook reading hardware/software is to have books without DRM, either by only buying from publishers who don't use DRM, or by stripping DRM, or by getting pirate copies which don't have DRM.

ANY ebook you buy with DRM is limited to a subset of reading devices.

[Freeshadow]

As I tried to prove here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...9&postcount=32 DRM is more harmful to the legit users than to abusers.

I accept drm to protect authors

all they need is a prove of illegal motivation of the abuser to be entitled to legal steps. applying uniqueness markings like individual watermarks is enough. A fair user would have no need to strip them, an abuser would, in order to make tracking the files back to him.

I accept that there needs to be some kind of protection against piracy.

Altough this is a different problem, its AFAIR already being cared of, by providing armed escort to the cargo vessels cruising near the african regions in question.

[GreenMonkey]

New here. Just got a nook today. I hate DRM on video games (where it seems to be gaining ground, not losing it)...I think the younger folks don't get it. A lot of them seem to have grown up on DRM and seem to accept it.

I'm not buying DRM'd books unless they are very, very cheap. And I'll probably break the DRM like I always have to do for this stuff.

DRM only hurts legitimate purchasers.

I voted no, but I will buy a DRM'd product if it is super cheap. Because I see it as a rental, not a purchase.